Comparing Global Annual Investment and FDI in Telecommunications


Christopher Barclay 1

1 School of International Service, American University

The rise of 5G technologies and continuing expansion of undersea cable networks is propelling the telecommunications industry through the 21st century. While The telecommunications industry is vital for maintaining the integrity of the global economy, societal functioning, and security, there are unequal gaps in telecommunications connectiveness and investment globally. Additionally, the industry itself is a high-debt sector that appears to be facing decreasing revenues and returns. Assessing global telecommunications investment data may provide insight that can support policymakers in better understanding the current telecommunications landscape and implementing high-impact infrastructural investments.

Using data from the ITU and World Bank, this study investigates the relationships between annual investment in telecommunications, total gdp and gdp-per-capita, competition within a country’s telecommunications industry, and ease-of-business. Although quite flawed, these variables very roughly stand in for countries’ economic power, industry concentration, and business friendliness. Specifically, I measure:

Data and Methodology

The ‘telecom.csv’ dataset contains economic data from 1960-2022 across 218 countries, 18 sub-industries, and 11 ease of business indicators. Data regarding annual investment in telecommunication services and level of competition were taken from the ITU’s “DataHub. Historical data on ease of business were taken from The World Bank’s ‘Doing Business’ archive. Lastly, data on economic strength were taken from the IMF’s public datasets on (GDP, current prices and GDP per capita, current prices, respectively.

Table 1: Global Telecom Competition (2021)
Level of Competition Freq Percent
Full competition 1245 86.338419
Partial competition 119 8.252427
Monopoly 78 5.409154

Results

tinytable_34k6vn23mqlhrr57qm3z
Predictors of Annual Investment in Telecommunications
(1) (2) (3) (5)
*** p < 0.01
(Intercept) 316.14*** 628.46*** 358.15 17.29
gdp_total_bil 4.40*** 4.47*** 4.49*** 3.37***
gdp_per_cap -0.02*** -0.02*** 0.00***
competition_levelMonopoly -123.48 132.76***
competition_levelPartial competition 3222.65*** 178.43***
startbuscapital -1.74***
permit_time 1.19***
electricity_cost 0.05***
register_time -3.44***
register_cost -20.55***
contracts_time 0.30***
contracts_cost -1.64
taxes_total 0.20
Num.Obs. 24948 24922 19773 8331
Table 2: Table caption.
Sepal.Length Sepal.Width Petal.Length Petal.Width
5.1 3.5 1.4 0.2
4.9 3.0 1.4 0.2
4.7 3.2 1.3 0.2
4.6 3.1 1.5 0.2
5.0 3.6 1.4 0.2
5.4 3.9 1.7 0.4
4.6 3.4 1.4 0.3
5.0 3.4 1.5 0.2
4.4 2.9 1.4 0.2
4.9 3.1 1.5 0.1

Or with figures: Figure 1, or Figure 2.

Great figure!

Figure 1: Great figure! 

data <- iris

plot(x = data$Sepal.Length, 
     y = data$Sepal.Width, 
     col = data$Species,
     pch = 19, 
     xlab = "Sepal Length (cm)",
     ylab = "Sepal Width (cm)")
Amazing, right?!

Figure 2: Amazing, right?!

Next Steps

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Conclusion

Try posterdown out! Hopefully you like it!

Contact

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References

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